Male calicos also tend to have behavioral problems due to mental development impairment.

These cats have less bone mineral content, which means a greater risk of broken bones. Only one in 10,000 male calicos are fertile. Because of this, male calicos are generally very unhealthy and sterile. However, one out of every three thousand calico cats is born male due to a genetic anomaly known as Klinefelter syndrome. Furthermore, they require an unrelated gene to introduce the white coloring.īecause it requires two X chromosomes to create a tri-color coat in a cat, males cannot generally display such a coat. For a cat to become calico, it must have an X chromosome with orange coloring and another X chromosome with black coloring. Females have two X chromosomes while males have just one. The X chromosome carries the genes for color. It takes a very unusual chromosome pattern to create a calico cat. The breeds that can are: Image Credit: Linn Currie, ShutterstockĪre All Calicos Female? Image Credit: Aleksei Verhovski, Shutterstock Calico BreedsĪs we mentioned, calico cats come in many breeds, though not all breeds can produce calicos. Their colors are also blended and mixed instead of exhibiting specific patches of color. Calico cats must have white as one of their colors and the other colors appear as patches over the white. However, the way that the colors present themselves is very different from a calico. Tortoiseshell cats also have tri-colored coats. While tortoiseshell and calico cats are very similar, they’re not actually the same thing. You’ll often hear tortoiseshell and calico used interchangeably. Tortoiseshell vs Calico Image Credit: Elisa Putti, Shutterstock The white will dilute to cream, orange dilutes to strawberry-shaded blonde, and the black dilutes to gray.ĭilute calicos are also called calamanco cats or clouded tigers. Dilute calicos have the same tri-colored coat that calicos have, but the dilute gene causes the colors to be muted and appear faded. When thinking of dilute in relation to a cat’s coat, you can replace it with the synonym muted. What is a Dilute Calico Cat? Image Credit: Pixabay Only one in a thousand cats are born calico. Calicos are exceptionally rare, despite the fact that this coloring can appear in many breeds. The coat of a calico cat features distinct patches of color with white being the base. This means that you can have calico cats in several breeds. Many people assume that calico is a breed, but it’s only a color pattern. They’re prized for their gorgeous coats, but there’s a lot of misunderstanding surrounding these cats. Most often, the other colors are black and orange.

What is a Calico Cat? Image Credit: loicp90, PixabayĪ calico cat is a cat with a coat that displays three colors, with one of them being white. But what is a dilute calico cat and what makes them so special? Even if you’ve heard of one, it’s very likely that you’ve never actually seen one in person due to their incredible rarity. If you’ve never heard of a dilute calico before, you’re not alone. But there’s an even rarer type of calico that’s just as beautiful, though notably different in appearance: the dilute calico. These rare cats are exceptionally beautiful, which is the reason for their popularity. Most people have heard of calico cats, though not everyone knows what they are.

Tortoiseshell calico cat